CHAPTER-4

Learning Objectives:

1) Role of Personal Factors in shaping consumer Behaviour:

A) Personality

B) Values & Attitudes

C) Perception, Learning & Memory

D) Motivation

INTRODUCTION

ROLE OF PERSONALITY IN SHAPING CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

When we describe people as quiet and passive or loud and aggressive or

ambitious, we are portraying an aspect of their personality. Personality is

a set of traits and characteristics, habit patterns and conditioned responses

to certain stimuli that formulate the impression an individual makes upon

others. Personality can be reflected in a person‟s temperament and is a

key factor influencing consumer behavior. Personality has been defined

by Salvatore Maddi as follows:

“Personality is a stable set of characteristics and tendencies that

determine those commonalities and differences in the psychological

behavior (thoughts, feelings and actions) of people that have continuity in

time and that may not be easily understood as the sole result of the social

and biological pressures of the moment.”

There are three aspects of this definition that should be considered if we

have to understand personality in true sense.

a) The first aspect is that of relative stability of characteristics. These

account for „consistent patterns of behavior‟ i.e. we look for those

characteristics that change only very slowly over a period of time.

For example: one cannot judge a person‟s personality on the basis

of his/her mood fluctuations.

b) The second aspect is that of „commonalities and differences‟ in the

behavior of people. What makes an individual similar to others and

what sets him/her apart from others. In study of the influence of

personality in shaping consumer behavior this aspect is very

crucial as a marketer must analyze that what characteristics a

particular consumers has i) like all other people, ii) like some other

people, iii) like no other person. This understanding of the

consumer helps him in designing the marketing strategies in a

better manner.

c) The final aspect is that of, what induces people to behave in a

manner as required by social pressures or biological pressures. For

example: a consumer may buy a particular detergent brand because

his wife insisted on that particular brand even though he is

interested to buy a low priced brand which according to him

provides more or less same benefits yet he is compelled to buy the

high priced brand because of the social pressure. Similarly a person

may settle for street food if he is starved and there are no other

better alternatives available. This would be a biological pressure.

Hence, these behaviors do not require any explanation in terms of

personality factors, because the causes of such behavior are clearly

understood.

The most popular definition of personality is that given by Gordon W.

Allport. According to him, “Personality is the dynamic organization

within the individual of those psychological systems that determine

his unique adjustment to environment.”

Although the exact nature of personality and the way it should be

analyzed or whether this analysis is actually of any practical use is

highly controversial and debatable issue yet the concept of personality

is considered as very real and meaningful to all of us in our day to day

life. An understanding of personality characteristics helps us to

describe and differentiate between individuals. This particular aspect

of personality holds a lot of importance in marketing. It helps a

marketer in identifying the similarities and differences that exist

between people and on this basis group them into categories in such a

manner that people who share a few similar personality characteristics

fall in same group in a way that each group is dissimilar from one

another. This lays the foundation of creating customer segments.

It is assumed that the personality of an individual is

consistent and tends to endure over time and is carried over to variety

of situations. Marketers often attempt to influence specific consumer

responses by appealing to relevant personality traits. Although it is

assumed that personality remains consistent yet the consumption

behavior of customers often changes or varies due to specific reasons,

motives, attitudes, peer pressure and sometimes new product

introductions also influence a consumer‟s behavior. for example: a

consumer may have high brand loyalty towards various product

brands he uses because commitment is one of his personality trait but

due to the speed at which technology changes and new product

innovations and features come in case of consumer electronics

especially mobile phones he may be tempted to change his mobile

handset and its brand quiet frequently.

Major events or changes in life, such as marriage, death in family,

birth of children etc. changes the economic circumstances of an

individual which invariably brings changes in the personality of an

individual and hence change or influence his buying behavior.

In consumer studies, personality is defined as “consistent

responses to environmental stimuli. It is an individual‟s unique

psychological makeup, which consistently influences how the person

responds to his or her environment.” Marketers are often interested to

know why some people prefer a specific brand (at times people are loyal

to a particular brand throughout their life). Why some people always want

to buy wet grocery in the early morning hours that too from specific street

vendor while some prefer to buy it in late evening. Why some consumers

always look for bargains or discounts while some prefer to buy fresh

stock without any promotional schemes or offers. All questions are very

much pertinent to the field of understanding of consumer behavior and in

turn a proper understanding and well defined answers to these questions

can help marketer frame an excellent marketing strategy for its customers.

To achieve this objective a marketer therefore must understand the role of

personality in shaping and influencing consumer behavior and the

conceptual theories that have been proposed to explain the concept of

personality. Consumer analysts often make use of four important

personality theories:

A) TRAIT THEORY- according to this theory traits are the

basic elements of personality and can be used to summarize

behavior. A trait is any distinguishable,Relatively enduring

way in which one individual differs from another. This

theory visualizes personality as a reflection of certain traits

of an individual. Even though there are many traits that are

common to most people, there are other traits that are

unique to a person and not shared by other individuals. On

the basis of trait theory people can be described as

aggressive, loyal, pleasant, flexible, humorous, sentimental,

impulsive, cool and so on. This theory is basically a

quantitative approach to personality. Traits such as risk-

taking, self-consciousness and need for cognition are

considered to be most useful traits in planning of marketing

strategy.

Three assumptions delineate trait-theory. The first

assumption is that traits are common to many individuals and

vary in absolute amounts among individuals and therefore can

be used to divide or segment the markets. The second

assumption is that the traits are relatively stable and exert fairly

universal effects on behavior regardless of the environmental

situation. Hence traits can predict a wide variety of behaviors.

The final assumption asserts that traits can be inferred from the

measurement of behavioral indicators. Marketing research tests

such as psychometric tests, laddering technique, sentence

completion test etc. can help a consumer researcher/analyst to

measure these traits in consumers.

Trait theory is quiet helpful in developing the brand

personality. It helps a brand manager design a suitable

personality for its brand. A brand’s personality is the

personality that consumers interpret from a specific brand.

Personality of a brand can be perceived in many ways. For

example: - being contemporary/ traditional, feminine/masculine,

fun/serious etc.

Fig 4.1, Raymond advertisement tries to personify and

associate its brand image with a man who plays multiple roles and is

seeking perfection in all. (source: arvindtm.com)

Advertisements designed by the marketers often address the tendencies of

some consumers to buy and own products that are an extension of

themselves or a reflection of who they would like to be. For example:

Raymond‟s brand of suiting & shirting for a long time personified its

brand to be associated with „a complete man‟. Thereby signaling its

current and prospective buyers that it is a brand for those dignified men

who perform multiple roles in personal and professional life.

B) SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY- this theory recognizes the

interdependence of the individual and society. While an

individual strives to meet the needs of society, the society in

turn helps the individual to attain his/her personal goals.

This theory is based on the premise that personality

development is more a result of social variables than

biological drives. An individual‟s motives can be traced to

known and conscious needs and wants rather than

unconscious and latent desires. Thus, behavior and external

environment have mutual interaction and this theory looks

at personality as the sum total of all that a person has

learned.

The social learning theory is based on the concept

of reinforcement and punishment approach in understanding

personality. For example: frustration caused by external

environment, causes and reinforces aggression as a personality

trait. On the other hand good behavior is rewarded by the

society in form of recognition or praise this reinforces good

behavior. Hence behavior partly creates the person‟s

environment and the environment affects the behavior as well.

Learning can also take place through observation. One can learn

by watching others behavior also. Social learning theory is well

symbolized in Karen Horney‟s theory, „Horney paradigm‟, that

suggests that human behavior results from three predominant,

interpersonal orientations: complaint, aggressive and detached.

People who are complaints often depend on others for love and

affection and are said to move towards others. People, who are

aggressive, are motivated by the need for power and move

against others. Whereas detached people are self-sufficient and

independent and move away from others. For example- a

consumer may buy a product that symbolizes an unattainable or

socially unacceptable goal. Although he/she may not admit as to

the reason of making such purchase but probably this

acquisition fulfills some subconscious “forbidden desire”.

Another personality theory that is well accepted

is Carl Jung‟s personality theory called shared memories

„archetypes‟. These have been categorized as:

1) Sensing- thinking Personality- these types of people make

rational, objective decisions. They adopt a logical and

empirical approach and have a highly involved extensive

problem solving orientation. They would weigh the

economic benefits of a particular product offering and hence

are price sensitive. They usually adopt a short-term

perspective in making decisions.

2) Sensing-feeling Personality- they do not use logic and

believe in personal experience; rather they are moved by

personal values. Their decision making for a particular

product offering is „subjective‟ in nature. They are status

conscious and adopt a short- term approach to decision-

making.

3) Intuition- thinking Personality- these people take a broader

view of themselves and the world as a whole. Although they

consider a wider range of options and heavily rely on

imagination, yet they use logic in making decisions. They

adopt a long term perspective and are ready to take a risk.

4) Intuition- feeling Personality- as in the above case these

people also takes a broader view of the personal situation.

They also use imagination in considering a wide range of

options are often considering others‟ view and show least

sensitivity towards price. They also seek uniqueness from

the product offering and most importantly have an indefinite

time horizon while making decisions.

Another view to personality was given by Alfred Adler who was a strong

promoter of role of social learning in forming of an individual‟s

personality. According to him human beings continuously strive for

achieving rational goals, which he referred to as style of life. He proposed

that in their childhood people tend to develop an inferiority complex and

when they grow up as adults they strive to win over these feelings; in

other words strive for superiority.

C) SELF- CONCEPT THEORY- this theory is based on the

premise that personality and behavior are largely dependent

upon the individual himself/herself. What ever we present

in front of others is consistent with our own image of who

we are. According to Carl Rogers‟ the best vantage point

for understanding behavior is from internal frame of

reference of the individual himself. An individual himself is

the centre of experience. His self image is integral to how

he views himself and his perception of how others view him.

This self-concept is a result of an individual‟s interaction

with his/her environment. This interaction in turn makes us

learn and experience and through this we develop, grow and

mature. Accordingly we change or modify our self- concept.

For a particular positive behavior if we get a positive

response from others, our self-concept gets reinforced

positively. However if we get no response or at times

negative response to our behavior than our self-concept gets

negatively reinforced. Thereby resulting in tension and

anxiety. Imagine a young woman having a slightly darker

complexion and has often suffered inferiority complex due

to this (women themselves as well as the society as a whole

give too much importance to facial beauty), she rejects use

of fairness crèmes because she doesn‟t trust the tall claims

made by them in the advertisements, Now this could be due

to her previous bad experience of using one brand which

failed to live upto her expectations and as a result she is

unable to trust any new brand. Hence in this case the

behavior has been negatively reinforced which has resulted

in lack of trust in all fairness crème brands.

This theory has a significant influence on

consumer behavior. Analysts often try to understand how and

what consumer‟s think and how they relate a particular brand/

product in respect to their self concept. This helps them in

identifying niches based on consumer personality, within the

selected target markets. It also helps in determining the

positioning, image and message that the marketer wants to give

to a specific segment of prospective customers. According to

the popular model proposed by M. Joseph Sergy, there are four

specific types of self-images:

~ Actual self- what an individual buys or owns is a reflection of

what they think and believe about themselves.

~ Ideal self- what they want or would like to be.

~ Social self- how they feel others see them.

~ Ideal social self- how they want to be seen by the others.

There is another aspect also which was later identified by

research i.e. Expected self is the way an individual expects to

see himself sometime in future. Therefore this aspect of self

image is positioned in between actual self and ideal self. This

aspect of personality is more valuable from a marketer‟s point

of view. It is so because it gives marketer an opportunity to

design products and services and promote them in a manner that

will provide customers genuine opportunity to change their self

image.

Self concept theory is governed by two important

principles: 1) the desire to achieve self-consistency and 2) the

desire to enhance one‟s self-esteem. In order to achieve self-

consistency a person will behave in accordance with the concept

of his/her actual self. For example: if a woman in her 40s feels

herself to self-controlled and practical, then she would wear a

traditional Indian dress like saree or salwar-kameez and would

prefer to stay at home taking care of family and kids. Though

she might be well qualified yet she would prefer to be a home

maker. On the other hand if deep down her ideal self is to be

reckless and carefree, then to act and behave in accordance with

her ideal self she would wear fashionable clothes and go out to

parties, would be highly career oriented and so on. Such action

will bring her closer to her ideal self and enhance self-esteem.

Since customers have different role identities to play in his/her

personal as well as professional life therefore at the time of

buying any of these roles can dominate the buying process.

Consumers‟ actual self influences their purchases in accordance

with the images they have of themselves and thereby attain

self-consistency. An owner‟s self-image is reflected in his/her

mobile phone brand and this self image is also similar to his/her

image of others who own the same brand of mobile phone.

According to Thomas J. Page and Robert E.

Burnkrant the relationship between self- concept and brand

image is somewhat complicated in nature. It changes in

different situations. The self concept which one experiences at

the time of a business deal may not be the same as he/she

experiences at the time of a party. The role of self concept in an

individual‟s life can be defined as:

a) It is formed through interactions with parents, peers,

teachers and others who exert some sort of influence on an

individual.

b) It adds significant value to an individual.

c) Since self concept adds significant value to an individual

therefore he/she often strives to enhance or maintain it by

purchasing or consuming those products and services that

help them to achieve this objective.

d) Some products serve as social symbols and communicate a

social meaning about those who own or use them.

e) These products also act as symbols that communicate

meaning to oneself and others, creating an impact on the

individual‟s self-concept.

ROLE OF ATTUTIDES & VALUES IN SHAPING CONSUMER

BEHAVIOUR

According to Gordon W. Allport, “attitudes are learned predispositions to

respond to an object or class of objects in a consistently favorable or

unfavorable way.”

As per D. Krech and R. Crutchfield, “An attitude is enduring

organization of motivational, emotional, perceptual and cognitive

processes with respect to some aspect of our environment.” This

definition assumes the attitude to be composed of cognitive (knowledge),

effective (emotional) and Conative (behavioral) components. The word

aspect used in the definition signifies a broader meaning and includes

specific consumption or marketing related issues such as product, brand,

service, possessions, people (ad models), ads, price, marketers etc.

A new and more recent definition of attitude has been given by

Martin Fishbein. According to whom attitudes have multidimensional

aspects. The formation of an overall attitude towards an object is believed

to be a function of a) the strength of each belief ( the consumer has a

number of beliefs) the individuals holds about various attributes of the

object and b) the evaluation that he/she gives to each belief as it relates to

the object in focus. Fishbein has also reported that there are more than

100 different definitions of attitudes.

Whatever the definition of attitude be, one thing that is

universally acceptable is that attitudes are learned. As per the context of

understanding consumer behavior is concerned, the buying attitudes are

formed from personal experiences with reality, personal use of the

product, exposure to advertisements, word of mouth information received

from various sources. Attitudes are relatively consistent and are reflected

in an individual‟s behavior but are not necessarily unchangeable. One can

observe the consistency of an attitude when all the conditions are

favorable.

Attitudes are global or overall evaluative statements. In other

terms attitudes can be favorable or unfavorable towards a particular

product, brand, marketer, retailer and form of communication, media or

even the ad models. Since the attitudes influence consumers‟ purchase

and consumption intentions/ patterns therefore the marketers are very

much interested to know the consumer attitudes prevalent in a particular

target market, with regards to their product or brand. Attitudes can vary

along several dimensions or properties. Two fundamental properties of

attitudes are their valence and extremity. Attitude valence refers to

whether the attitude towards a particular object is negative, positive or

neutral. On the other hand Attitude extremity reflects the intensity of

like or dislike. For example: a consumer may like brand A and B of a

particular product, may dislike brand C and be fairly indifferent towards

brand D (valence). However, he may like both brand A and B but his

liking towards brand B may be more than brand A.

ATTITUDE MODELS

Attempts have been made by various psychologists, from time to time to

explain the phenomenon underlying the formation of attitudes. Attempts

have also been made to explain the link between attitudes and behavior.

To explain the whole concept, various models have been put forward

from time to time to facilitate the understanding of the concept of attitude

formation and how they influence behavior. In order to understand the

role of buying and shopping attitudes in influencing the consumer

behavior, it is essential to understand these models. Though many models

have been propounded so far but the most important ones are discussed

here.

MODELS OF ATTITUDE FORMATION

Fig: 4.2, Tricomponent attitude model (source: emeraldinsight.com)

A) TRI COMPONENT ATTITUDE MODEL

This model is based on the context that attitude is made up of three

components:

a) Cognitive component- that consists of an individuals knowledge,

beliefs etc. A consumer acquires knowledge and experience

through various sources and based on them forms perceptions and

beliefs about a product, person, phenomenon, activity and

relationships between two or more things. These beliefs in turn

make a consumer ascribe certain attributes to the objects. For

majority of objects, the consumer may have many different beliefs

and may presume that a specific outcome is a result of a specific

behavior. For example: people may believe that LUX:

~ Is the most popular brand of bathing soap

~ Is a brand used by majority of female film stars

~ Is an expensive soap

~ Is a premium product from a large multinational company

The total configuration of beliefs about LUX represents the cognitive

component of attitude about this brand of soap. Beliefs can be correct

or incorrect, true or untrue. The important factor is they must exist in

the minds of the consumer, for the cognitive component to exist.

b) The Affective component- Once the beliefs are formed in a

consumers‟ mind, these will generate certain feelings and

emotional reactions to an object. This represents the affective

component of the attitude. While beliefs can be multi-dimensional,

feelings are always one-dimensional. It is so because the affective

component is a result of an over all evaluation made by a customer

towards the attitude object. These evaluations can be positive or

negative; can be expressed in form of emotional evaluations such

as anger, elation, happiness etc. An important aspect of this

component is that evaluative feelings are dependent on situation

and therefore may change when the situation changes. The

affective component is very important in attitude formation

because the evaluative feelings acquired by a consumer in this

process will eventually lead to the formation of consumers‟

predispositions about an object. The brand evaluations formed by a

consumer determine the tendency to evaluate the brands as

favorable or un-favorable. Further more the feelings that

consumers‟ develop are based on specific attribute evaluations of a

product/brand and at times they may precede and influence beliefs

(cognitive component). In certain cases positive or negative

feelings may be developed about a product/brand even before the

consumer has acquired any beliefs about the product. This initial

effect can impact or influence the way in which that consumer will

react to the product itself.

c) Conative component- the outcome of the feelings developed in the

affective stage is the likely behavior that the consumer is going to

show towards an object/product/brand. It is the tendency or

likelihood of a consumer to respond in a certain manner towards an

attitude object. In the context of consumer research Conative

component is considered as „intention to buy‟ and majority of

consumer attitude surveys tend to get this information from the

consumer while understanding the consumer trends, purchase

pattern, preferences etc. in simple terms Conative component

represents whether the consumer will buy or recommend a product

or not. Sometimes, beliefs and feelings about a chosen brand do

not change for consumers to establish an intention to buy because

the economic reward is quiet large.

THE VALS (VALUES & LIFESTYLE) PROFILING

Stanford Research Institute (SRI), developed a profiling of American

customers based on their lifestyle and values. It is popularly known as

VALS consumer profiling but due to its practical limitations it was

further revised and VALS-2 was developed. The profile is based on the

feedback generated from the respondents spanned across various ages and

categories. The analysis is based on agreement or disagreement based on

various statements, some of which are:

a) I have a little desire to see the world.

b) I like being in charge of a group.

c) I liked most of the subjects I studied in school.

d) I am often interested in theories.

e) I must admit that I like to show off.

5-85-8

Primary motivationsPrimary motivations

Principle Oriented/Ideals

Status Oriented/Achievement

Action Oriented/Self- Expression

Achievers/Achievers/

Actualizers/innovators

Actualizers/innovators

Strugglers/survivors

Strugglers/survivors

StriversStrivers

Fulfilleds/thinkers

Fulfilleds/thinkers

BelieversBelievers

ExperiencersExperiencers

MakersMakers

high ResourcesHigh innovation

high ResourcesHigh innovation

Low ResourcesLow innovation

Low ResourcesLow innovation

Fig: 4.3 , VALS- 2 framework(source: Internet, www.future.sri.com)

As per this profiling the customers are divided on the basis of two

dimensions, primary motivations, determine the type of goals that

individuals will pursue and refers to activities and attitudes reflected by

an individual. The other dimension is resources, which reflect the ability

of individuals to pursue their dominant motivations. On the basis of these

two dimensions they are classified into 8 categories.

Innovators/actualizers- high on resources and ready to experiment new

brands and products that match their psyche and personality. Although a

small segment but very attractive for the marketers of premium brands.

Often guided by desire but at times guided by ideals too. Buy brands to

show off their success to others.

Thinkers/fulfilled- conservative yet practical consumers. Motivated by

ideals. Buy products for their durability & functional value. They are

mature in their outlook, are well educated and satisfied people.

Believers- rational thinkers and predictable and conservative buying

behavior. They are motivated by ideals and have deep belief in religion,

family and tradition. Are not well educated and have a typed routine.

Achievers- motivated by desire or sense of achievement. Their choices

are made on the basis of their desire to enhance their image in eyes of

others. They have a goal oriented lifestyle and are equally committed to

their family as well as careers.

Strivers- fun-loving and trendy people motivated by a sense of

achievement. However they lack decision making ability and are

dependent on others for the same. They are active shoppers and have a

strong tendency to show off.

Experiencers- usually youngsters, impulsive and rebellious in nature.

Spend heavily on fashion and fad. They are risk takers and look for

excitement and variety in their life. Spend heavily on clothing, fast food

and music.

Makers- they are motivated by self- expression. Self-sufficient,

professionally skilled, energetic and having sufficient income generated

through their skills. They are Practical people with constructive skills.

Strugglers/survivors- low on resources and therefore narrow interests.

Mainly concerned with safety and security. Cautious consumers and very

brand loyal if offered lucrative discounts. They are less educated and low

skilled.

ROLE OF PERCEPTION,LEARNING & MEMORY IN SHAPING

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

These are known as psychological factors as they are related to the

psychology of the customer. The way people behave when they are

purchasing something for their personal use or for somebody else, is

greatly dependent upon the past learning‟s of that individual. For example:

from his past visits to a super mart store a customer remembers the exact

location of various items, on sale at the store and also the price of every

item, therefore in his 3rd

or 4th visit he would prefer not to be shown

around the store by a sales or service personal, infact he would prefer to

be left alone and allowed to do his shopping at his own pace by making

various product comparisons, price comparisons, schemes offered etc..

Similarly in this case if suppose the sales staff of the store is too keen to

offer services assuming him to be a frequent customer, than the customer

may feel uncomfortable and if despite of „don‟t disturb‟ instructions

given by the customer again and again, the sales staff still continue with

their pushy attitude than the customer might perceive that the store is not

customer friendly and the sales person are always looking around to push

products on to the customers. He may share this perception of his with his

other friends in the nearby areas thereby spreading a bad publicity about

the store and its sales staff, this eventually can turn out a sincere effort of

customer service by the store staff into an undesirable image of the store

in minds of a group of its key customers thereby leading to lose of not

only the customer mentioned in the case but also of those with whom he

had discussed his experience.

Every individual has certain unfulfilled needs, wants and desires that

results in a state of tension or disequilibrium, which acts as a driving

force within individuals. Majority of purchases that people make are done

to fulfill these needs, wants or desires. The motivating force that pushes

every individual varies from person to person and marketers use this

knowledge to identify the differences in target markets, segment the

markets and also design their marketing programs to appeal to variety of

people. For example: a housewife may be motivated to buy a brand of

detergent because of the savings offered due to low price of the brand, or

because of the scheme offered or may be because of the free gift offered

along with the it. Whereas an upper middle class professional women

might be motivated to buy some high priced brand of detergent because

of the quality & convenience of washing offered by the brand over low

priced brands. Motivating factors not only vary from customer to

customer but also within same person in different situations also.

Fig:4.4 well stacked, beautifully displayed, fresh grocery in the grocery

market or retail window motivates the customer to buy on impulse or at

times buy more than what is required.(image source:

internet,www.guardian.co.uk)

Other important psychological factors that influence purchase process are

beliefs and attitudes. A belief represents the cognitive component of an

individual which denotes the probability of an individual to accept a

particular piece of knowledge as true. Attitude on the other hand is the

bend of mind. Thus an attitude is the way we think, feel and act towards

some aspect of our environment such as a brand or a retail store. People

have strong beliefs and these beliefs are not easily modified. The beliefs

can be positive or negative for a particular brand and product and they are

formed on the basis of past learning‟s and experiences. When these

beliefs are reflected in form of behavior towards these products or brands,

they are known as attitudes.

Fig: 4.5 different people show different attitudes towards sales promotion

schemes, some may feel that it as an opportunity for shopping while

others may feel it as a marketing gimmick of the retailer.(image source:

internet,crowds2crowds.blogspot.com)

For example: a common belief among consumers across classes is that

high price means high quality and vice-versa. And accordingly they are

skeptical about the performance and quality of the product whenever they

come across a low priced product or brand whereas no such thing comes

to mind when the product /brand to be considered is a high priced one.

All the factors mentioned above play some or the other role in shaping

the behavior of a customer although their influence in each case varies

not only from person to person but also from situation to situation. In this

chapter we have just given an overview of these factors and how they

shape consumer behavior, with the help of suitable examples.

CHAPTER END QUESTIONS

Q1- „Personal factors play a crucial role in shaping and influencing the

behaviour of shoppers‟. Comment by giving suitable examples

Q2- How are shopping attitudes formed? What role does marketer play in

forming and changing consumer attitudes?

Q3- Highlight the role of perception and personality in influencing the

behaviour of retail shoppers.